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Updated: Aug 4, 2025

Monitoring Lung Function with Electrical Impedance Tomography in the Intensive Care Unit
Published on: September 6, 2024
Awake prone position in COVID-19 acute respiratory failure: a randomised crossover study using electrical impedance
Thomas Brunelle1, Eloi Prud'homme1,2, Jean-Emmanuel Alphonsine1,3
1Assistance Publique - Hôpitaux de Marseille, Hôpital Nord, Médecine Intensive Réanimation, Marseille, France.
Background:
The goal of this study was to determine whether an awake prone position (aPP) reduces the global inhomogeneity (GI) index of ventilation measured by electrical impedance tomography (EIT) in COVID-19 patients with acute respiratory failure (ARF).
Methods:
This prospective crossover study included COVID-19 patients with COVID-19 and ARF defined by arterial oxygen tension:inspiratory oxygen fraction (P aO :F IO ) of 100-300 mmHg. After baseline evaluation and 30-min EIT recording in the supine position (SP), patients were randomised into one of two sequences: SP-aPP or aPP-SP. At the end of each 2-h step, oxygenation, respiratory rate, Borg scale and 30-min EIT were recorded.
Results:
10 patients were randomised in each group. The GI index did not change in the SP-aPP group (baseline 74±20%, end of SP 78±23% and end of aPP 72±20%, p=0.85) or in the aPP-SP group (baseline 59±14%, end of aPP 59±15% and end of SP 54±13%, p=0.67). In the whole cohort, P aO :F IO increased from 133±44 mmHg at baseline to 183±66 mmHg in aPP (p=0.003) and decreased to 129±49 mmHg in SP (p=0.03).
Conclusion:
In spontaneously breathing nonintubated COVID-19 patients with ARF, aPP was not associated with a decrease of lung ventilation inhomogeneity assessed by EIT, despite an improvement in oxygenation.
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